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TractionMan

By TractionMan
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TractionMan

TractionMan

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I've been lurking on this forum for quite some time now and I think it's finally time to say hello and introduce myself.

Hello!

So, for as long as I can remember, I've been interested in space and astronomy. As a youngster I spent hours and hours looking at the moon through my fathers, at the time, way too heavy binoculars. Not minding the double image caused by the windows glare. The interest for astronomy has always been there, although sometimes dormant for months or even years. Every now and then I looked up at a dark sky, enjoyed the stars and moon for a while. Got hooked again and went to the library (this was before internet) to read some more about space, stars, planets and so on.

Fast forward time to about five years ago, my then fiancee to be, now hopefully wife to be, got me a "star" from My Star. Got at star chart with it and of course I wanted to find it. So I started to look for information on telescopes as I thought that was what I needed. The more I read the more I wanted a scope of my own. Stumbled upon the Celestron Nexstar SE scopes and thought THAT is a must have. No need to learn about the night sky, just set up and go. At least that's what I thought. The Nexstar 4SE was within my budget at the time. But then I read some more about these scopes and apertures importance for deep sky observation. Found some good threads on various forums as well as articles and following some good advice, I ended up with a pair of inexpensive binos, Celestron UpClose 10x50. I used them to try to find the star, looking at the moon and some casual sky sweeping for a while. Then the interest faded for a while again.

Then I got a nice astronomy book as a christmas gift from my parents in law - Astronomica. Great book, well written, nice pictures and I was back for more. Downloaded Stellarium and had some fun trying to learn some constellations and find them for real with my binos. It lasted for a few weeks and then we bought a house, moved and I didn't quite have time for star gazing for a while.

This past autumn, I started to read Astronomica again and now I got bitten by the space bug big time! I've spent hours in the backyard from september throughout the winter gazing at the stars, moon, planets, either with my binos or naked eyes and I've been having a blast! Didn't know it was possible to see that much with just binos. The highlights so far has been the pleiades, orion nebula, the andromeda galaxy and the comet Garradd. Garradd proved to quite a challenge to find and when I finally did, I jumped up and down with enjoyment!

Of course I've been reading up on telescopes a bit more since I want one. I've read some great thread on this forum and I'm getting closer to a decision. At the moment it's leaning towards a newt on an EQ mount. Either the SW Explorer 150PDS or 200P on the EQ5 mount as I'm at some point, likely to try my hands on some (very) basic AP. On the other hand I'm tempted to buy a dobsonian 10" light bucket, but the more I think about it, the more I think the newt on EQ route is the way to go for me, even if visual astronomy will be my priority.

For the time being, I'll stick to my binos and read some more about scopes. I'm not in a hurry. Just got a copy of Turn Left of Orion to inspire me further.

Hmmm I was supposed to keep the introduction short. Sorry if I failed. :)

Have a nice day/night!

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damnut

damnut

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Welcome to SGL. If you are only interested in visual then you will get more value from a big dob!!

You have made the right choice in sticking to binos & a good book before making up your mind and avoiding a potential mistake in your investment. If you have a local group its well worthwhile going along to see what others have and get the chance to see through a variety of kit before yor purchase.

Clear Skies.

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi and welcome to the forum. An impressive introduction to yourself and astronomy given that english is not your first language, but you didn't tell us if you managed to find your star that your fiancee obtained for you.

In my view one of the trickiest parts of buying astro kit is when someone says that would like to do both imaging and observing. The demands of either interest place different technical requirements on kit so that a scope good for observing, is not necessarily the best for imaging. There are also different technical demands between imaging solar system objects (moon/planets) requiring only a webcam to imaging deep sky objects (DSO's) such as galaxies and nebulae which will require a very precise mount. To help you through this aspect of your research, you might want to think about getting hold of a copy of Steve Richards' "Making Every Photon Count"(£19.95) which will tell you all that you need and why you need it to take good consistent images that will meet your own expectations. It is better to have this overview at the beginning before you buy kit and in fact, getting this book might well end up saving you money as well. Hope that helps.

Clear skies and enjoy the forum,

James

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TractionMan

TractionMan

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Wow! What a response! Thank you all for your kind words. You really make me feel welcome. :(

damnut - The choice I made about sticking to binos and a good book for a while, is all thanks to some of the great threads I've read here so far. Unfortunately I don't have a local astro group/club here as far as I know, so I'll probably need this forum to help me decide which scope to get eventually. Have to say that the Look at the size of that thing-thread has helped me quite a bit so far as well. :)

swamp thing - the nickname TractionMan comes from another hobby of mine, kite buggying with huge, powerful traction kites.

JamesM - Well, I'm going for visual astronomy primarily, but I think I want the option to TRY some basic AP at some point. Not really sure yet though. Havn't been able to find "my" star with the binos, but when I get a scope I'll try again. Read about the book you recommended and it really sounds interesting. Thanks.

Considering that the days are getting longer and the nights shorter this time of year, I'm in no hurry to decide whether to get a 10" dob or an 8" EQ mounted newt. They cost roughly the same and I think I'll be happy with either one I go for when the time comes.

However, to try to help me decide, I actually ordered a Skywatcher Heritage 130P yesterday. Mostly out of curiosity and to try to find out if a dob is the way to go for me. Got some Baader Planetarium Astrosolar Safty Film as well for the upcoming Venus transit. Not sure if I'll make a filter for the scope or my binos though.

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